Mercedes CEO warns of economic decline, urges Germans to work more

In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Källenius argued that Europe's largest economy has been moving in the wrong direction for "about 10 to 15 years."

He warned that if this trend is not reversed, "then the populists on the right will come along, and they have no solutions for anything."

The Swedish-born chief executive attributed much of the country's malaise to a declining work ethic. He compared Germany's current competitive stance to a struggling national football team.

Källenius said it was "as if you say before a World Cup that we’re training enough, even though everyone else is training twice as much."

He highlighted that Germany now faces some of the highest labour costs globally. While superior productivity once offset these expenses, he said this was no longer the case.

"We don't want Asian [working] conditions in Germany, but we have to move back in a direction where entrepreneurship and investment in Germany are worthwhile in terms of energy, taxes and labour costs," said the Mercedes boss. Otherwise, he warned, capital will flow elsewhere.

In the interview published at the weekend, Källenius also waded into a current political debate over whether the legal right to part-time work should be axed in Germany.

While defending the right to part-time arrangements for reasons such as "raising children or providing care," Källenius said that the general population must increase its total hours worked, otherwise "our unique productivity engine will stall even more."